Yeah, I think these were both supposed to have the FSA rear brake from the start but they weren't available in time so the initial bikes were shipped with 105 bikes instead.

The vision isnt too bad for a $90 brake it was better than a normal brake. The tririg saved 2-3 watts for me.

The main things that cause brakes to feel week or squishy are friction and flex.The things that can flex are the brake levers, the cable housing (shifting under brake cable tension) and the brake arms themselves. Friction can come from all sorts of places.

One of the IAx friction problems is the cable routing through the stem into the frame. There is a cosmetic cover plate on the stem that hides the brake cable housing as it makes an almost 90° turn into the frame. If this is tightened too much, it will crush the cable housing and cause a crap-ton of friction.

I replaced my brake cables with Shimano's BC-9000 Dura Ace cables. They are very good, and minimize a great deal of friction and flex losses.

I do not like noodles, because they add friction. In the case of the rear brake it was an extra-bad choice because the noodle loops out in the path of the cranks. there are a lot of great brake options in the world that are both economical and do not require a noodle.

The other thing you can do to enhance braking performance is improve mechanical advantage. So, I replace my brake levers with TT-78 brake levers. And, I replaced the brakes with Omega X that have a greater mechanical advantage than the simple Tektro geometry.

All of this is overkill, but bad rear braking contributed to an avoidable wipeout on my bike. After that, I dumped the rear brake and replaced the cables and levers. They feel freaking awesome now. They have way more stopping power than before.

Eventually I plan to replace the bars with something that has better cable management. I am working a man-crush on the Alpha X because of the integrated bar and stem, so that will probably be the one.

The great thing about this setup is that now I can have the pads spaced a little further out to allow for fit of 25mm tires. The levers and Omega X brakes engage so quickly (better mechanical advantage) that I do not notice the spacing. I do not need an in-line quick release with this totally awesome brake package.

Don't shoot the messenger....

Sent an email to Felt re: IA accessories. Here's the response:


"I dug into it and found the details. Originally was scheduled to be out by now but after some developmental delays (A lot for the new TA...) these parts are pushed back until late 2016/early 2017. Sorry for the not so great news, they are working on it."


Well that sucks. Especially since the QBoxes are sold out everywhere. We need a third party solution!

That sucks the accessories are delayed. I was waiting for accessories designed specifically for the IA.

Looks like I will have to keep using the Trek Draft box for a few more months.

That's too bad :-(

I'm sure someone who is handy with a 3d printer (aka not me) can mash something up! It'd probably be blue and ugly but nothing some spray paint cannot fix. This seems like a perfect application of the technology.

Right, and I'm sure I could probably find something aftermarket, drill holes in it, etc. But I shouldn't have to do that for a 'super bike' costing thousands of dollars. "Hey, here is our awesome super bike you can buy for up to $10000, but we couldn't be bothered to make a plastic container to fit into the bosses we drilled into it.........".
Ridiculous.

I don't entirely agree.
Bikes are not generally sold as a finished item. Case in point, they don't come with pedals or bike computers and it's pretty routine for people to change the saddle and often the wheels (for racing if not for training). So I think it's acceptable for a bike manufacturer to provide mounting points for accessories you might want to add, even if they are not going to provide these themselves. I'm glad my IA14 has behind the seatpost bosses. I've already fitted a bottle cage to hold a storage container with tube and repair kit during training. It's not very aerodynamic so I've removed it for racing, but the option is appreciated. if they produce a nice draft box I might well buy it. I might alternatively fabricate something myself although I haven't gotten around to it yet. Let's not discourage manufacturers from facilitating versatility and innovation. the bike industry is bad enough in this regard already, although it does seem to be improving, especially in the triathlon field.

We'll have to agree to disagree.... :)

Trek managed to develop a speedbox that fits well with all sizes of their SC's.
Scott and Canyon have really nicely integrated hydration bottles on the front of their bike, and Scott was able to provide different size bottles to go with the different size frames (not sure about Canyon).
Specialized has internal hydration along with a storage box to go in the triangle.
Giant also has the front bottle nicely integrated now on their new TT bikes.
Ventum has the integrated drink bottle.
etc
etc

I really don't see many game changing innovations in frame shapes in the past 5+ years. But integrated storage for tools/food/drink is really high on my priority list now when shopping for a new bike. Felt seems to have completely ignored all that. I realize they have the bento box on the top tube, but by most accounts, its all but useless.........unless of course you want to hack/customize it..........no thanks.

OK, so now that I've got all that complaining done with.... :)
All those bosses that they have inside the triangle.....Is there really no third party box that would fit nicely, or aero bottle that would have big enough opening to use for flat kit storage?
I do really like the look of the bike, the IA 1 module is what I'd be looking for if I could get storage sorted..

I agree. I liked the look of the Felt IA but once I tried out the Calpac, I knew I would never buy the bike because I would be pissed off a lot. Integration with the frame is the next big thing for triathlon and to ignore it is stupid.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Just FYI...TriSports' website says the QBoxes will be back in stock late June/early July depending upon what size and color you want. Just ordered.

Its been saying that since the end of Feb when I ordered one. New dates will appear, then they all get pushed back. I had a local shop call and its delivery to QR from Asia, they dont seem to know when that will happen.

I did say I didn't entirely agree, but that doesn't mean I don't mostly agree. I really like the Felt IA but it does really, really annoy me that the Calpac is so half-assed. While I do think it's completely acceptable to provide extra mounting bosses just in case customers might want them, bike manufacturers in general have done a poor job of providing versatile fully usable bike without needing lots of extras zip-tied on. Speed and cadence sensors for example should really be integrated into all bikes with Tiagra/Apex level groupsets and above. Virtually everyone uses them and they are an unsightly and clumsy add-on that could easily be accommodated in the original design. I think Giant do provide something like this on some of their bikes but I think they're the only ones. Everyone, besides pros with support cars, needs repair kits but again no specific and suitable storage provided on the vast majority of bikes. Imagine if cars were sold like bikes. Attach a magnet to your wheel and stick a speedometer to your dashboard if you want to know your speed!

So to be honest I agree with you except perhaps in interpretation of the status of mounting bosses ;)

Trek has a spot on the chainstay for their duotrap speed/cadence sensor to be installed into. They have that feature across their road and tri range ( possibly on other ranges as well CX, MTB....).

I do not think Felt ignored anything-- they just executed poorly. The new frame has an attempt at an integrated top tube compartment along with bosses for a streamlined seat tube thing. That puts Felt in a very small company of bikes.

I think that Specialized executed poorly with their bladder. Great idea, but at only 33 oz, it does not eliminate the need for bottles on longer courses (there had to have been more than 33 oz of usable interior volume in that frame). It is close, but falls short. The Ventum bottle is pretty awesome. The Trek only has the rear box, though that is pretty awesome. It looks like the Canyon CF SLX is getting pretty close with two integrated storage compartments and integrated hydration.

Going back to the thread a while ago about how to standardize aero tests, it would be great to see bikes tested in a full "race trim," with all of the storage and hydration that a typical rider would have installed. This would give the integrated bikes an advantage for longer races. The non-integrated bikes would do better for shorter races.

They said the same thing about May 5. It never happened. I cancelled my order.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Well shit.

And just to play devils advocate, cervelo put that lower frame boss with expectations that an aftermarket solution would be developed by a third party and it never was; and trek released the speed concept 2, in which their literature pointed to how much faster the bike was with a rear bottle carrier and it took forever(has it even been released?) to release that carrier.

Anybody having problems with their aerobars shifting inboard and outboard? I just went from a 20mm rise to a 10mm rise on my bars and now I can't get my aerobars to stop pivoting in/out. It's like the 2 bolts are loose but they are tq'd to spec, the little washers/spacers/bushings are installed and the bolts are the correct size. The bars are secure it's just that while riding my shifters migrate toward each other. It's getting pretty frustrating.

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To dumb to quit

You're glossing over the Scott Plasma, which has the hydration that the Canyon has, and storage on top, but a couple years earlier. Also the new Giant Trinity has similar specs. Canyon has a few more options for sure (flatkit in the top tube is a nice touch) but Scott deserves a mention here.

How about Dimind that everyone is blowing their load over and is right near the top in terms of pricing?

Is the top storage on the Scott Plasma really usable, or is it basically the same as the calpac on the Felt?

What does this have to do with bikes and storage integration?

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/